DRW50

When I saw Kyle Lowder, I thought he was playing Brady again. I had forgotten he was brought back as Rex, for whatever reason they did that.

And Josie was at a real low then - her baby had recently died, her marriage had ended, Sharlene was not in town. Rachel was also alone. Plenty for him to do, even just for one episode.

Soapcentral claims late December 1981. I suppose that could fit. I know the paternity story must have been mentioned, but by the time I first really saw Philip (when he returned in 1996 - I had "seen" him when I started watching GL around '90 but didn't pay a great deal of attention), I felt like most of the angst over that part of their history had passed. And when I go back to the '80s, I know the tension is there, like Philip taking over the company and booting Alan, but due to many factors (Grant leaving and returning, Chris leaving and returning, Justin never being around aside from his ill-fated 90-91 stint after Alan was already gone), I don't feel the impact as much as I think the revelation and buildup warranted. Joan was also capable of playing some softer moments on Dynasty. Elizabeth was fragile but also had some distance, some steel. Not off Joan's persona. Block was a fascinating presence on GL, but other than fighting over Blake, nothing was done with his Marler ties. Nothing with Justin or Lainie (I was surprised she was even mentioned - not sure she or Justin ever were again after that). Having him as the Spaulding heir could have been more compelling, at least if the Spauldings had been in stronger shape. I would have had proper Alan and Alex recasts around this time, an Alan-Michael recast, the Vicky story much stronger (hell, even at the level of Dominique on Dynasty - never strong as a story, but a compelling presence and balance to the other dynamics). Philip might have felt left behind with the changing dynamics, especially with Harley not wanting to be a part of the Spaulding world again. I might have done a story similar to Clay and Alex on Loving where the "real" heir arrives, but Philip believes he is an imposter. Similar to when he was sure Beth was alive, no one believes him. Maybe even have Beth get involved with him, partly to hurt Philip and partly because she is genuinely enchanted by him. Then it's a real "be careful what you wish for" moment as the "real" heir, when found by Philip, has a very hard edge, only a handful of people able to see past that edge, similar to Roger in many ways. And his arrival knocks the family completely off balance, along with his simmering resentment at the family preferring the con artist heir to him. Meanwhile, Philip would, yet again, cut ties with the family and try for a normal life, maybe this even being a reason to bring in Sam, Lainie, or Justin as he reconnects with his Marler roots (maybe Lainie or Sam are dying, Justin is doing all he can to save her, and Philip ensnares Rick and Ross into taking career-ending risks to save her life). But he will always go back to Spaulding, especially as both of the new/old/true/false heirs lurch to a place of mutual destruction. You could also work Elizabeth, or a Jackie return from the dead storyline into the midst. Another Alan/Jackie marriage, this one more based on honesty and a twisted acceptance.

Thanks. The end did make me wonder if it was a pilot.

Starting at about 8 minutes you get a story on the Elvira pilot not being picked up by CBS (it is available in full on Youtube - I love Elvira and Katherine Helmond, but it's nothing special, with some elements already done better in Mistress of the Dark), then they go into the new CBS fall shows, ending in a terrifying photo of Tom Arnold. One of those sitcoms (The Trouble with Larry) was actually premiered early, and did so badly it got yanked after three episodes, replaced by another short-lived sitcom by the same producers (It Had to Be You) - so short it only ran one more episode than Larry. Anyone know if that's a record for a production team? Then there was a pilot for the aftermath of that show with Dunaway's character having died (I think), which I put in the pilot thread last year. Only The Nanny would have legs. Earlier in the episode there's also an extended preview for Frasier. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trouble_with_Larry#Reception

I couldn't find a thread for just movies of the week rather than miniseries and I didn't want to start one without seeing if others thought one should be started, so I'll just put this here for the moment. A TV movie with Ben Masters, Morgan Fairchild, John Hillerman. Someone put it up yesterday and I don't see another version on Youtube (just a promo). This aired October 7, 1988. After all the buffoonery of Julian Crane it's always interesting to see Ben in these straighter roles.

I'm not entirely sure where to put this, but Robert S Woods is being interviewed by Judy Norton about his guest stint on The Waltons.

I was thinking of the issues Melanie Smith said she had with Gregory Beecroft on ATWT, but I don't know what Harley has ever said about him.

Thanks. Hadn't heard of his passing. Poetry in Motion is such a dippy, sweet song. The "whoa...whoa whoa whoa whoa..." stayed with me. "It Keeps Right On A Hurtin'" may be the song I liked most of his (of the few I heard). Very effective melody and vocal performance.

I imagine he was involved in the Philip recast as Philip had been a central character until they wrote him out. Not hiring Grant, but the choice to recast him at that time. I sometimes think it was a mistake to not have the reveal while Jarrod Ross was still in the role. Grant was excellent in the reveal, but it was all done with so quickly, zero long-term impact. Of course, Marland would never have known that - who'd expect the show to just barely bother. Today maybe...but in 1983 it wasn't as common. GL, breaking ground in some not great ways. Rick seemed like he was barely seen anyway. I do think O'Leary was decent recasting, but the first "adult" Rick, Macgregor, was not bad at all in the few clips of him which showed up. @chrisml Thanks. I'd heard O'Leary talk about being a Dr. Death, but never heard about the cake. I'm glad that GL never took the ER-ification as seriously as JFP did with AW around this time. And then GL would only outlive ER by a few months... I can just imagine, especially given her main co-star.

That's a nice idea - how it should be.

I sometimes do just to save time, but I see what you mean.

Thanks. I am surprised at how decent the show still looks by that point (I don't say that to go into more Peapack rehashing). I was also impressed by the work there. I know Michael could do good work, but I don't think Yvonna ever got credit, partly because she was immediately rushed into a marriage and a baby storyline and never felt like a character. I also appreciate Mel calling out the romanticization of the whole Four Musketeers era, even if the show, like all the soaps, fell back on the same nostalgia too many times (there and with Josh/Reva). I still can't believe how fast they aged Leah. Irna would have been proud.

I assume they meant the only successful transition, which is what I often read with GL - maybe they just missed a world. I am probably nitpicking. Brighter Day might come second. It didn't help that was when they gave up on any logical story for him. Who decided he needed a child with Harley? Was someone a big fan of the Philip/Meredith plotline? I couldn't remember who the guy was. Thanks. That was the closest Ethan came to having a storyline.

This is a very in-depth take on what the Bauers could have been. I like your idea. I think the Bauers, even by the mid '80s, had become too dismantled for the complexity they should have had, as you've shown here. In that more dismantled state, I think O'Leary worked, as he had a spark and good comic timing. I also think he was a very good contrast to Grant Aleksander, and that aspect probably clicked more than him as a Bauer - I can't really remember appreciating any of his scenes with his family. I think @Mitch64 is right that they may have been better off recasting when they brought him back - I think he works well enough the first few years, even through the Abby pairing, but after that, they start taking Rick in a lot of directions which weren't the best use of the actor. Then again, I don't know who could have made sense of most of those stories, which were all rushed and tired tropes (the Mel stuff) or incomprehensible (Philip's death and the Beth affair). I know he used to talk in interviews about the pranks he and some of the other guys in the cast would pull, especially the one about convincing new guys that they were going to go to Italy to play a gay love story with a soccer player. I always wondered if any of the new guys actually believed that.

I haven't gone back to watch Dusay's early run very often, but I do remember her as being smoother early on - less of sounding like a barnyard animal. She initially wears a very chic suit, IIRC, that Alex might have worn if she was a huge Michael Jackson fan. The work looks on Marj and that more laid-back style. It doesn't take long for the histrionics to kick in. You're not wrong about how dead the show often felt in those years. The actors and some of the dialogue writers, and the appropriate use of music here and there, helps, but only so far. By the time we got to early '94 I was completely numb.

I agree the scene is good. I also think this is a stronger take on Alex than we often got from Marj - there's some Myrna, yes, but Myrna was also very neurotic, the same way Marj often played Alex. Here Marj is trying to just play the colder, barely concealed disgust and contempt. I had forgotten until reading the Soapcentral profile on Alex that there were other scenes around this time like her browbeating poor Vicky that give glimpses into a stronger take on Alex that we did not get for most of her run. Still, I can't blame Marj for going to AMC, as that was a contract part, and she always seemed more at home as Vanessa, even if she had her moments as Alex. I do wonder if P&G were the ones keeping Bradley. Conboy had already started downgrading Jerry. Still, they never should have let him go. Thanks for the article. I didn't know 40% of daytime viewers are black women. Yet still no respect from the genre. Hopefully BtG will change that, as much as it can be changed. I didn't know Michele was from Chicago either. I've said before I like to think Irna is watching over the show... This is not true: “The Guiding Light” was the only radio soap to transition to TV.

I didn't see that. If that ever was the plan I imagine something has changed or the works have been gummed up. The Lulu and Lucky returns are about all they've done, and Lucky's return has felt like it was not wanted by the show (or a number of fans) from the start. I guess there's also Lois. And Tracy. Was that Varni?

I think at this point it may be just trying to hold onto whatever older viewers they have rather than expecting lapsed viewers to come back. There are older viewers who were watching GH long before there was a Sonny, I'm aware, but I wonder how many of the people who are seen as the current viewer base are still in that demo. Bringing Emma back may also be part of wanting to keep that base around, as to a certain generation of fans, the mid '90s will always be the ideal (Emma wasn't around then, but Robin was). You're right. I imagine a number of fans did quit because of Sonny. They may think focusing on those they still have is more important. Then you have the attempts to try to possibly bring back past viewers, which seem very half-hearted on the show's part, like Lucky's return. I don't think it helps that Lucky became such a meaningless character and JJ's last return was poor, but still, the lack of effort (beyond digitizing flashbacks) and the general lack of interest from viewers go hand-in-hand. Ideally this would be the time to start cutting back on Sonny, even if he never goes away. If writing scenes about how awesome he is means less of him, the tradeoff would be worth it.

I tend to agree. A lot of fans can't stand Sonny, me included, but he still has supporters, even on places like Twitter. And the show seems likely to double down on familiar faces who are so emmeshed in the framework the way Carly/Jason/Sonny are. You could argue they should focus on someone like Liz instead if that is the case, but there's a long history of taking her for granted. Sonny has always been seen as being on some kind of unshakeable ground, maybe aside from the end of Guza's run. This may also be part of Frank and co wanting to double down on what is intrinsic to GH (for better or worse) compared to BtG. As younger viewers or viewers more interested in diversity move on, we're going to get more of the same old faces.

Andie Harrison. You may remember the early '90s version of her (I generally preferred her, although that isn't saying a ton).

I saw that the 1978 ATWT which was only ever on Archive is now on Youtube.via a reuploader. I thought it would be fair of me to post the original link (you can find it on Youtube under Aug 2 1978 if you can't get Archive to work). I had forgotten they also have a 1980 episode up - I don't remember if I ever watched it. It's later into 1980 as Peter Reckell is around. As The World Turns 1978 : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive As The World Turns : Obsolete Video Services : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive Thanks.

That's the whole question with Port Charles - has there ever been a great deal of indication most of the residents are opposed to "good" mobsters? I suppose if we go back to the '80s or early '90s, but even then, they sent Luke Spencer, a thug and mob associate, in as mayor. Most of the time the only characters who were opposed to the "good" mob were the characters who were meant to be seen as out of touch, like the Quartermaines. This might not as notable an issue if the main mobster our heroes all love wasn't so repulsive, but then the character was always repulsive, it's just now he doesn't have charisma. There's not a big moral leap from him sexually exploiting vulnerable girls and preying on vulnerable young men on a full-time basis to occasionally killing "bad" people amidst his many apparent acts of wonder and glory. But the spark isn't there, so now it's more of an issue to viewers (some viewers); to the characters, it's 1994 forever.

In today's TV climate, any new soap - any soap - is going to struggle, especially without the timeslots B&B and Y&R have (I am aware Bill Bell fought hard to get Y&R into a strong position [no comment on B&B]). That's one of the reasons I wish the networks were trying 30 minute soaps or 15 minute soaps, or more soaps that are stream only. Sadly, any time we get those, they last two years at most, aside from DAYS, which is a very special case. I do hope the show can survive, that any soap can, but expecting ratings gains or anything beyond hoping the erosion isn't too severe may be a big ask.

I have often forgotten Inside Edition is still on. Good for her. She was treated horribly at Today, for a situation that wasn't her fault (typical of that very cold, unpleasant show). I'm glad she has managed to have a steady career since that time. And she was a much better face for them than Bill O'Reilly ever was.